Leaving aside Hou Niao's silent curses, five figures flickered in and out of sight. Three kept watch not far from his poplar tree, while two crept straight toward him. One drew out a Flying Ring, and the other leaped directly up the tree. He had no idea what they were after-why did they insist on making him their target?
Watching the Flying Ring and the savage-faced man approach together, Hou Niao grew anxious, yet could do nothing. He sighed inwardly: before one wave had settled, another rose. How many more dangers like this awaited him?
Just as he ran out of ideas, he heard a branch snap behind his head, and a streak of white light flashed past!
It was the pale-faced scholar who had not spoken a word all along. He had actually been hiding above Hou Niao's hiding place. Now he swept downward, his longsword cleaving out with earth-shaking force, as though to cut through everything barring his way!
The man leaping up the tree was caught completely off guard. How could he possibly turn back in time? All he could do was grit his teeth and withstand it head-on. The talisman already prepared in his hand released fine rays of golden light, colliding with the sword light slashing down at him. Then came a scream that shook heaven and earth.
Hou Niao was watching with mounting excitement, never expecting that although the scholar had knocked the Flying Ring off its original course toward him, it would still strike the fork where he was hiding. Thus, beneath a single sword stroke, three people fell: one dead, one alive, and one flat on his back.
For the first time, Hou Niao was profoundly grateful for the fallen leaves here, some ten feet thick. They cushioned most of the force of his fall; otherwise, even damaged muscles and broken bones would have been getting off lightly.
Once again he lay amid mud and fallen leaves, while a fierce battle unfolded nearby. Spells of various elements rang and exploded, but more abundant still was the peerless Sword Qi sweeping in every direction!
Because of the angle at which he lay, he could not see the entire battlefield, only the fighting between a few people. He could not make much sense of its subtleties, either. The only thing he could be sure of was that these good friends each had their own skills, whereas every single member of that group of four used a sword, without exception!
The fighting began abruptly, raged fiercely, and ended just as quickly. After only a few dozen breaths, several good friends fled in panic, while those four vicious men seemed scarcely troubled at all.
The fat man spoke. "Don't chase a cornered enemy. There are traps everywhere deep in this poplar forest. We ambushed them this time; let's not turn around and let them ambush us. That would make us a laughingstock."
The burly Junior Brother Liang sounded faintly dissatisfied. "We only cut down three and let two escape. How could two people ambush us?"
Rustling sounds came from all around, probably as they cleaned up the battlefield. Only once everything was finished did Junior Brother Liang chuckle and say:
"Senior Brother, how do we deal with this Daoist Sect scoundrel? If you ask me, we might as well settle it with one sword stroke... save time and effort..."
Another voice said, "No! When our Quanzhen Sect kills, we do it openly and honorably. We never execute without first giving instruction. What is there to fear from a mere minor cultivator who has only just entered Qi Gathering? This isn't a convenient place. Why not take him back first and decide then?"
The burly man muttered, "You've eaten lamp-wick ash and now you're letting off weightless farts! Take him back? Won't I be the one stuck carrying him again?"
He shuffled over and delivered a kick. Hou Niao immediately felt every restraint on his body disappear. This time, however, he neither resisted nor retaliated, because he had already established that these four belonged to the Orthodox Demonic Sect of the Great Wind Plains in the Shan Kingdom: the Quanzhen Sect.
In fact, practically the whole Shan Kingdom was under the Quanzhen Sect's control, just as the Daoist Sect controlled the Anhe Kingdom.
Now that he had found the people he was looking for, all that remained was how to join them. He had no idea whether this experience would prove good or bad for him.
Hou Niao listened to their utterly unrestrained conversation, as though he were a piece of merchandise. The weak had no right to refuse-something he felt deeply. Nor did he want to provoke them unduly. These fellows were utterly unreasonable and truly ruthless; he could see no sign of mercy in them.
The three corpses had simply been piled together haphazardly and stripped of everything they carried. To his eyes, it was hard to say who were the bandits and who were the authorities.
He knew better than to object, because in their eyes, he too was part of the spoils.
The four took him out of White Poplar Forest. Hou Niao was still somewhat puzzled as to why Junior Brother Liang had said he would have to carry him. Couldn't they simply put him on a horse?
But there were no horses! These people traveled on their own two legs!
He did not believe they could not afford horses, which left only one possibility: they were accustomed to-or rather, required to-travel without mounts?
The four formed a single line, with the pale-faced scholar in front, the fat man second, the burly man carrying him, and the beanpole bringing up the rear. Once they started running, dust billowed in their wake, creating quite an intimidating spectacle. They actually ran with the thunderous momentum of a herd of galloping horses.
Moreover, their speed was not the slightest bit inferior to that of fine horses; if anything, they were faster!
Secured to the burly man's broad back, Hou Niao felt hardly any jolting. It was steadier than riding a horse. This was a very unusual running spell, somewhat like the lightness techniques of the mortal world, yet also very different.
The strangest thing was that, whether with mortal lightness techniques or the cultivation world's Escape Techniques, good methods placed great importance on how long the body spent leaping and soaring through the air. Naturally, the farther each leap carried you, the faster you moved, until your feet no longer touched the ground and you flew.
But these four used precisely the opposite method. They always kept one foot on the ground, as though dragging themselves along. Their posture was extremely clumsy, and precisely because of this, they raised such an enormous commotion along the ground, as though plowing it!
A strange Quanzhen Sect, strange cultivation methods, strange people!
They ran like this for four hours, yet the four showed no sign of slowing, as though the farther they ran, the more energy they had. Even on the burly man's back, Hou Niao could feel the surging spiritual power circulating within him, like a kettle of water set over a furnace whose fire burned ever fiercer.
They still had strength to spare, but they had reached their destination.
It was a large town, or perhaps a small city. Hou Niao could not describe it, because this human settlement had neither city walls nor clearly defined streets. Had all the buildings been replaced with felt tents, he would have been more inclined to believe this was a nomadic settlement. Yet the buildings here were solid brick and tile, and their standard of construction was not the slightest bit inferior to that of the Anhe Kingdom.
The only difference was that the Anhe Kingdom's buildings used timber as their principal material, emphasizing delicacy and elegance, while here there were bluestone blocks and great roof tiles, exuding weighty, ancient simplicity. They were simply two different styles.
This was clearly their home base. Once they slowed down, practically everyone they encountered greeted them, men and women, old and young alike. Even many children of all sizes came up asking for sweets.
Hou Niao had once been a low-ranking official himself. From the bright smiles on these people's faces, he could tell their sincerity was genuine, not feigned. He sighed inwardly. A sect like this had roots and could not easily be shaken, just like the Daoist Sect's standing in the Anhe Kingdom.
This also meant that his undercover operation would face many practical difficulties, not merely in his actions, but even more in his feelings.
He would rather enter a cultivation faction that preyed upon the common people, because that would give him enough righteous conviction to persevere. But if the people here lived happily too, then as time passed, what reason would he have to harm their interests?
That was the greatest difficulty.
He could only console himself this way: perhaps this was an obstacle he was destined to face on his path of cultivation? Perhaps the demonic and the Daoist were not so clearly divided after all?
...Encountering demons strengthened the Dao; through illness, one understood this fleeting life.